Large cities attract migrants

Infographic | 29-05-2016

The urban population is a sundry mix of people from all kinds of places. At present, the share of residents with a non-native background in the four largest cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht) is roughly equal to that of native residents. In other parts of the country, this share is smaller. The Netherlands has a history of attracting immigrants, most of whom arrive in the Randstad and mostly in the four large cities. Already in the 1960s and 1970s, so-called guest workers came to the Randstad from southern Europe, Turkey and Morocco. Many people from Suriname arrived in the late 1970s, following this former colony’s independence. The 1980s and 1990s saw many family reunions of guest workers; their wives and children moved to the Netherlands to join them and any subsequent children were born here. Many of their children would later seek a partner from their parents’ homeland. In the 1990s, a growing number of refugees from former Yugoslavia arrived in the Randstad, as well as from other areas; all fleeing war, famine or natural disasters. In the 2000s, many immigrants originated from central and eastern Europe, as a result of European Union enlargement.

Source data

This infographic on immigration and emigration in the four largest Dutch cities is based on data provided by Statistics Netherlands (CBS).

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